Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

The Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers announced that it has been decided to implement One Nation One Fertiliser by introducing a “Single Brand for Fertilisers and Logo” under the fertiliser subsidy scheme named “Pradhanmantri Bhartiya Janurvarak Pariyojna”

• The office memorandum said, “the single brand name for UREA, DAP, MOP and NPK etc. would be BHARAT UREA, BHARAT DAP, BHARAT MOP and BHARAT NPK etc. respectively for all Fertiliser Companies, State Trading Entities (STEs) and Fertiliser Marketing Entities (FMEs)”
• Also, “A logo indicating Fertiliser subsidy scheme namely Pradhanmantri Bhartiya Janurvarak Pariyojna will be used on said fertiliser bags”.
• Under the new “One Nation One Fertiliser” scheme, companies are allowed to display their name, brand, logo and other relevant product information only on one-third space of their bags. 
• On the remaining two-thirds space, the “Bharat” brand and Pradhanmantri Bharatiya Jan Urvarak Pariyojana logo will have to be shown.

What is the government’s argument for introducing this scheme?

The government’s logic for introducing a single ‘Bharat’ brand for all subsidised fertilisers being marketed by companies is as follows:

• There are some 26 fertilisers (inclusive of urea), on which government bears subsidy and also effectively decides the MRPs;
• Apart from subsidising and deciding at what price companies can sell, the government also decides where they can sell. This is done through the Fertiliser (Movement) Control Order, 1973. Under this, the department of fertilisers draws an agreed monthly supply plan on all subsidised fertilisers in consultation with manufacturers and importers.
• When the government is spending vast sums of money on fertiliser subsidy (the bill is likely to cross Rs 200,000 crore in 2022-23), plus deciding where and at what price companies can sell, it would obviously want to take credit and send that message to farmers.

What can be the drawbacks of the scheme?

A couple of issues are immediately apparent:

• It will disincentivise fertiliser companies from undertaking marketing and brand promotion activities. 
• They will now be reduced to contract manufacturers and importers for the government. 
• Any company’s strength ultimately is its brands and farmer trust built over decades.
• Currently, in case of any bag or batch of fertilisers not meeting the required standards, the blame is put on the company. But now, that may be passed on fully to the government. 

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

A hydrogen fuel cell bus developed by KPIT-CSIR in Pune was unveiled by Union minister of state for Science and Technology, recently.

The hydrogen fuel cell uses hydrogen and air to generate electricity, producing only heat and water in the process.

• A hydrogen fuel cell bus is a Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV) that produces electricity by combining hydrogen and oxygen atoms. 
• The two gases react across an electrochemical cell similar to a conventional battery cell to produce electricity, water and small amounts of heat. 
• This electricity is then used by electric motors to propel the vehicle forward.

What is a Hydrogen Fuel Cell?

• Fuel cells work in a similar manner to conventional batteries found in electric vehicles but they do not run out of charge and don’t need to be recharged with electricity.
• They continue to produce electricity as long as there is a supply of hydrogen. Just like conventional cells, a fuel cell consists of an anode (negative electrode) and cathode (positive electrode) sandwiched around an electrolyte.
• Hydrogen is fed to the anode and air is fed to the cathode. At the anode, a catalyst separates the hydrogen molecules into protons and electrons and both subatomic particles take different paths to the cathode.
• The electrons go through an external circuit, creating a flow of electricity that can be used to power electric motors. The protons, on the other hand, move to the cathode through the electrolyte. Once there, they unite with oxygen and electrons to produce water and heat.

What is the advantage of a hydrogen FCEV?

• The primary advantage of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) is that they produce no tailpipe emissions. They only emit water vapour and warm air.
• Another advantage is that they are more efficient than internal combustion engine vehicles.
• Hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles have another advantage when it comes to refuelling time, which makes them more practical than battery-powered electric vehicles for public transportation purposes. Even with the fastest charging technologies, it could take hours to charge a battery-powered electric bus.
• Meanwhile, hydrogen can be refilled in a fuel cell vehicle in a matter of minutes, nearly as fast as an internal combustion engine can be refilled with fossil fuels.

What are the challenges with FCEVs?

• FCEVs do not generate gases that contribute to global warming, the process of making hydrogen needs energy often from fossil fuel sources. That has raised questions over hydrogen’s green credentials.
• There are questions of safety hydrogen is more explosive than petrol.
• Using a battery-powered electric vehicle doesn’t mean that the vehicles produce no emissions, but rather, that they produce no tailpipe emissions.
• Hydrogen fuel tanks in FCEVs such as the Mirai are made from highly durable carbon fibre, whose strength is assessed in crash tests, and trials where bullets are fired at it, which makes vehicles, more expensive, and fuel dispensing pumps are scarce.

How environment-friendly are hydrogen fuel cell vehicles?

• Using a battery-powered electric vehicle doesn’t mean that the vehicles produce no emissions, but rather, that they produce no tailpipe emissions.
• Since a majority of the electricity in the country comes from fossil fuels, and the biggest source of hydrogen in the world currently is also fossil fuels, these vehicles do cause a large number of emissions with their usage.
• However, just like we are moving towards renewable sources of electricity, we could also move towards renewable methods of generating hydrogen in the future.
• So, even if these vehicles do contribute to emissions right now, the fuel that they need could be produced using renewable methods such as solar and wind energy.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India published the Battery Waste Management Rules, 2022 to ensure environmentally sound management of waste batteries.These rules is a transformative step to promote Circular Economy in full earnest. New rules will replace Batteries (Management and Handling) Rules, 2001.

• The rules cover all types of batteries, viz. Electric Vehicle batteries, portable batteries, automotive batteries and industrial batteries.
• The rules function based on the concept of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) where the producers (including importers) of batteries are responsible for collection and recycling/refurbishment of waste batteries and use of recovered materials from wastes into new batteries.
• EPR mandates that all waste batteries to be collected and sent for recycling/refurbishment, and its prohibits disposal in landfills and incineration. 
• To meet the EPR obligations, producers may engage themselves or authorise any other entity for collection, recycling or refurbishment of waste batteries.
• The rules will enable setting up a mechanism and centralized online portal for exchange of EPR certificates between producers and recyclers/refurbishers to fulfil the obligations of producers.
• The rules promote setting up of new industries and entrepreneurship in collection and recycling/refurbishment of waste batteries. 
• Mandating the minimum percentage of recovery of materials from waste batteries under the rules will bring new technologies and investment in recycling and refurbishment industry and create new business opportunities.
• Prescribing the use of certain amount of recycled materials in making of new batteries will reduce the dependency on new raw materials and save natural resources.
• Online registration & reporting, auditing, and committee for monitoring the implementation of rules and to take measures required for removal of difficulties are salient features of rules for ensuring effective implementation and compliance.
• On the principle of Polluter Pays Principle, environmental compensation will be imposed for non-fulfilment of Extended Producer Responsibility targets, responsibilities and obligations set out in the rules. The funds collected under environmental compensation shall be utilised in collection and refurbishing or recycling of uncollected and non-recycled waste batteries.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

The Director General of the National Mission for Clean Ganga, spoke about the Arth Ganga model during his virtual keynote address to the Stockholm World Water Week 2022.

Since 1991, the Stockholm International Water Institute has been organising the World Water Week every year to address global water concerns.

The Arth Ganga Concept

• PM first introduced the concept during the first National Ganga Council meeting in Kanpur in 2019, where he urged for a shift from Namami Gange, the Union Government’s flagship project to clean the Ganga, to the model of Arth Ganga. 
• The latter focuses on the sustainable development of the Ganga and its surrounding areas, by focusing on economic activities related to the river.
• At its core, the Arth Ganga model seeks to use economics to bridge people with the river.

Features

Under Arth Ganga, the government is working on six verticals. 

• The first is Zero Budget Natural Farming, which involves chemical-free farming on 10 km on either side of the river, and the promotion of cow dung as fertiliser through the GOBARdhan scheme. 
• The Monetization and Reuse of Sludge & Wastewater is the second, which seeks to reuse treated water for irrigation, industries and revenue generation for Urban Local Bodies (ULBs).
• Arth Ganga will also involve Livelihood Generation Opportunities, by creating haats where people can sell local products, medicinal plants and ayurveda. 
• The fourth is to increase public participation by increasing synergies between the stakeholders involved with the river. 
• The model also wants to promote the cultural heritage and tourism of Ganga and its surroundings, through boat tourism, adventure sports and by conducting yoga activities. 
• Lastly, the model seeks to promote institutional building by empowering local administration for improved water governance.

Arth Ganga Initiatives

• The Arth Ganga campaign including the virtual launch of Jalaj initiative under Arth Ganga by the Minister for Jal Shakti on the main stem of Ganga basin states – Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. 
• Jalaj is being implemented in association with Wildlife Institute of India. 
• A trained cadre of Ganga Praharis have been created from among the local people by WII for biodiversity conservation and Ganga rejuvenation.
•  Jalaj, innovative mobile livelihood centre, are aimed at aligning the skill enhancement activities with Ganga conservation. 
• Jalaj is visualized as a model for livelihood diversification, through promotion of local produce and facilitates stakeholder participation in ecological and economic spheres for river conservation in line with “Arth Ganga” objectives.

ImAvatar

• A tourism related portal ImAvatar to promote livelihood opportunities along the Ganga basin by promoting Arth Ganga initiative through tourism, marketing of local products, both agriculture and handicrafts, sustainability of ghats and other assets created by NMCG was also launched on the occasion. 
• Both NMCG and ImAvatar would work together in the areas of public participation through religious and spiritual tourism and creating market linkages. 

New course ‘River Champ’ on CLAP:

• The continuous learning and activity portal (CLAP) is an online platform for raising awareness, actions and debates around river conservation in India.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

The South Korea-United States drills, called the Ulchi Freedom Shield, are scheduled to run until September 1. They are tri-service drills involving thousands of troops as well as live-fire exercises.

• South Korea and the United States began their largest joint military drills since 2017. 

• The military drills included the resumption of field training. These joint military drills are designed to test readiness against North Korea’s missile tests.
• These military and civil drills “are aimed at improving the country’s preparedness to match the changing patterns of war, with evolving cyber threats against key facilities such as chip factories and supply chains”.
• The drills will include a rehearsal of “scenarios, such as responding to North Korea’s attacks on key industrial facilities including an airport, a semiconductor factory, or a nuclear power plant
• These joint drills come after North Korea rejected South Korea’s proposals that Pyongyang give up its nuclear capabilities in phases, in return for economic benefits.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

The Supreme Court will hear in open court a review of its judgment upholding key provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

What was the Supreme Court ruling on PMLA?

• In Vijay Madanlal Choudhary & Ors v Union of India, a judgment delivered, the Supreme Court upheld the key provisions of the PMLA.

How is a judgment reviewed?

• A ruling by the Supreme Court is final and binding. 
• However, Article 137 of the Constitution grants the SC the power to review its judgments or orders. 
• A review petition must be filed within 30 days of pronouncement of the judgment.
•  Except in cases of death penalty, review petitions are heard through “circulation” by judges in their chambers, and not in an open court.
• Lawyers make their case through written submissions and not oral arguments. 
• The judges who passed the verdict decide on the review petition as well.
• The SC rarely entertains reviews of its rulings. 
• A review is allowed on narrow grounds to correct grave errors that have resulted in a miscarriage of justice. 
• A mistake apparent on the face of record” is one of the grounds on which a case for review is made. This mistake, the court has said, must be glaring and obvious — such as relying on case law that is invalid.

Why is the PMLA verdict under review?

The key grounds on which review is sought are:

• Amendments introduced as Money Bills: In 2015, 2016, 2018, and 2019, amendments including on bail and classification of predicate offences were made to the PMLA through the Finance Act. 
• The PMLA amendments do not qualify as a Money Bill as defined under Article 110 of the Constitution.
• While the Court agreed that this could be a valid contention, it did not decide on the issue since the question of what qualifies as a Money Bill has been referred to a larger seven-judge Bench in another case. 

Interpretation of Section 3 of the PMLA: 

• Section 3 of the law defines the offence of money laundering in terms of who is punishable. It states: “Whosoever directly or indirectly attempts to indulge or knowingly assists or knowingly is a party or is actually involved in any process or activity connected with the proceeds of crime and projecting it as untainted property shall be guilty of offence of money-laundering.”
• The SC in its verdict, accepted the government’s submission that a drafting error had crept in, and said that the expression “and” should be read as “or” in Section 3. 
• The petitioners seeking a review argue that this interpretation would expand the scope of the provision.

Retrospective application of the offence of money laundering: 

• The PMLA is an offence to punish money laundering with an intent that a person must not be allowed to take benefit of the offence he commits. The Act limits itself to “proceeds of crime” which is property that is derived out of a scheduled offence committed earlier by the accused. A scheduled offence is an offence specifically listed in a Schedule attached to the PMLA.
• In its ruling, the SC said the offence of money laundering, i.e., enjoying the “proceeds of crime”, is a “continuous one”, and can be acted upon independent of when the scheduled offence was committed. 
• This means holding property that is derived from an offence which may not have been a scheduled offence at the time of commission of the offence, will also be defined as money laundering.
• The petitioners seeking review have argued that this is a retrospective reading of the law, and violates the fundamental right under Article 20(1) of the Constitution.

Enforcement Directorate distinct from “police”

• The SC verdict upheld Section 50 of PMLA that empowers ED officials to record statements on oath from any person. 
• This is admissible in court, unlike statements or confessions made to the police. 
• The SC also said that the ED need not supply a copy of the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) with an arrested person.
• The SC has not taken into account certain obvious provisions which give penal powers to the ED while making this determination.

Bail provisions

• The SC verdict, citing a compelling interest in imposing stringent bail conditions for economic offences, upheld the bail provisions under PMLA that impose a reverse burden of proof on the accused.
• The petitioners have argued that “in the absence of an FIR (or equivalent), Complaint (charge sheet), case diary (not maintained), and documents relied upon by the prosecution, no accused can present facts and submissions to persuade the Special Court to believe that he is not guilty of such offence”.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 1

The Anang Tal lake in South Delhi, believed to have been built a thousand years ago, has been declared a monument of national importance through a gazette notification by the Ministry of Culture 

• In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 4 of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 (24 of 1958), the central government declare the ancient site and remains to be of national importance.

Anang Tal Lake

• The lake is situated in Mehrauli, Delhi and is claimed to be created by Tomar King, Anangpal II, in 1,060 AD.
• He is known to have established and populated Delhi in the 11th century.
• The millennium old Anang Tal signifies the beginning of Delhi.
• Anang Tal has a strong Rajasthan connection as Maharaja Anangpal is known as nana (maternal grandfather) of Prithviraj Chauhan.

Who was Anangpal II?

• Anangpal II, popularly known as Anangpal Tomar, belonged to the Tomar dynasty.
• He was the founder of Dhillika Puri, which eventually became Delhi.
• Multiple inscriptions and coins suggest Anangpal Tomar was the ruler of present-day Delhi and Haryana in between the 8th-12th centuries.
• He had built the city from ruins and under his supervision, Anang Tal Baoli and Lal Kot were constructed.
• Anangpal Tomar II was succeeded by his grandson Prithviraj Chauhan.
• Delhi Sultanate was established in 1192 after Prithviraj Chauhan’s defeat in the Battle of Tarain (present-day Haryana) by the Ghurid forces.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

The indigenously-developed ship-borne weapon system, Vertical Launch Short Range Surface to Air Missile (VL-SRSAM), was successfully flight tested by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Navy off the Chandipur coast in Odisha 

• The VL-SRSAM system has been designed to strike high-speed airborne targets at the range of 40 to 50 km and at an altitude of around 15 km. 
• Its design is based on the Astra missile, which is a Beyond Visual Range Air to Air missile.
• It is a quick reaction surface-to-air-missile indigenously designed and developed by DRDO for the Indian Navy, is meant for neutralizing various aerial threats at close ranges, including sea-skimming targets.
• Sea skimming is a technique many anti-ship missiles and some fighter or strike aircraft use to avoid radar and infrared detection.

Two key features of the VL-SRSAM are cruciform wings and thrust vectoring. 

• The cruciform wings are four small wings arranged like a cross on four sides and give the projective a stable aerodynamic posture. 
• The thrust vectoring is an ability to change the direction of the thrust from its engine control the angular velocity and the attitude of the missile.
• VL-SRSAM is a canisterised system, which means it is stored and operated from specially designed compartments. 
• In the canister, the inside environment is controlled thus making its transport and storage easier and improving the shelf life of weapons.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Tension between India and China since May 2020 is worrying Indian astrophysicists involved in an ambitious project to install an India-made spectroscope aboard the developing Chinese space station, Tiangong.

• Scientists at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru, were among nine groups selected from 42 applicants in 2019 as part of a United Nations-led initiative that invites research teams from all over the world to compete for an opportunity to design payloads that will be shuttled to Tiangong aboard rockets of the Chinese Manned Space Agency.
• The project, called Spectrographic Investigation of Nebular Gas (SING), also involves collaboration with the Institute of Astronomy, Russian Academy of Sciences, and has been designed and developed by research students at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics.
• The SING project would be the first space-collaboration involving India and China, and primarily deals with sending and positioning a spectrograph, an instrument that splits light into constituent frequencies and wavelengths, to study ultraviolet radiation. 
• This will help analyse the make-up and sources of interstellar gas in the region that swept by the space station as it orbits around the earth.
• The T-shaped Tiangong space station, when complete, is expected to be around 20% as massive as the International Space Station, or about 460 tonnes on Earth. 
• The space station consists of three modules, two of which have already been launched in April 2021 and July this year, respectively. The third is expected to be launched this October. 
• It will be only the second such station after the International Space Station in orbit.

India and China have been collaborators in the past on research projects such as the Giant Metre Wave Radio Telescope, a Pune-based observatory that’s employed by astrophysicists across the world to study radiation at metre-scale resolutions to observe and analyse stars and galaxies.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

The James Webb Space Telescope, NASA’s latest and most powerful telescope, has captured new images of our solar system’s largest planet, Jupiter, presenting it in a never before seen light. 

• The photographs published have captured a new view of the planet, presenting in detail its massive storms, colourful auroras, faint rings and two small moons — Amalthea and Adrastea.

Unprecedented View

• While most of us are familiar with the yellow and reddish-brown gas giant, the telescope’s Near-Infrared Camera, with its specialized infrared filters, has shown Jupiter encompassed in blue, green, white, yellow and orange hues. 
• Since infrared light is not visible to the human eye, the images were artificially coloured to match those on the visible spectrum, so that the planet’s distinctive features could stand out.
• Jupiter’s famous Great Red Spot, a storm so big that it could swallow Earth, appeared bright white in the image, since it was reflecting a lot of sunlight.
• The brightness here indicates high altitude so the Great Red Spot has high-altitude hazes, as does the equatorial region.
• The numerous bright white ‘spots’ and ‘streaks’ are likely very high-altitude cloud tops of condensed convective storms.

The Webb Telescope

• NASA’s $10 billion James Webb Telescope was developed with the assistance of the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.
• It was launched to space on December 25, 2021 and is currently observing from Lagrange point 2, approximately 1.5 million km beyond Earth’s orbit around the Sun.